The Sky is Falling, RIP 6th & Balance


So, after a flood of rumours some of which blatantly contradict each other we actually have some concrete changes established through two leaked pages out of White Dwarf.


What do they show?


  • New Psychic phase where you generate warp charge dice with a D6 + psyker level. (perhaps similar to Warhammer Fantasy Battle magic system now?).
  • New discipline of psykic powers: Daemonology with two forms - Sanctic and Malefic. Demon summoning!
  • 6 new 'maelstrom of war' missions. Using 36 cards that generate objectives for you each turn (sounds fun!).
  • Unbound armies - these do not have to adhere to the force organisation chart (but do still adhere to unit sizes and allies matrix).
  • Battle-Forged armies - these use the traditional FOC and receive bonuses for doing so.
  • New allies matrix.





The big one here that everyone is terrified about is unbound armies. The internet is awash with the potential cheesy lists that could be made which invariably involve spamming 20 of something. 20 Chaos Obliterators! 20 Tau Riptides! 20 Eldar Wraithknights! 20 flying monstrous creatures, pick your favourite flavour! GW are just trying to sell their big toys and don't care about anything [rage!].

Now whilst some of this concern is genuine, I do think it is a major over-reaction. If you are playing with a group of friends you are fine, you can all be rational, sensible people when list building. If you are playing at a local hobby centre you may encounter the occasional fool with far too much money doing stupid things but he soon won't have anyone to play against. If you are playing in tournaments then it's pretty simple - Battle-Forged lists ONLY.

Granted that was a bit of a simplified summary and which won't reflect all situations but I just wanted to show that it's not the end of the world. If you take a moment to ignore the spammy lists you realise there is potential for quite a lot of fun here. Couple this with the new deck of 36 objective cards and I think list building may take on a whole new level of strategy and fun. The options are mind boggling.

The other item to consider is the unknowns. We have heard rumours of easier shooting at flyers, Side Board army selections, better close combat amongst many. Looking at these changes in a vacuum without the context of the rest of the rulebook is unfair judgement upon the Games Workshop team. I mean we have not seen the rules or even played them yet!

I love the Warhammer 40k hobby from building/painting to playing on the tabletop. Whilst I don't always agree with Games Workshops decisions I think it's important to take a balanced perspective on things. The internet is a pool of negativity the feeds back on itself. 7th may be terrible, it maybe great we just don't know yet!

There is no time for peace. Indeed.




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